men world, in every respect-and in all parts of the it may be less. At the time the officers were reworld that they visit, are the admiration of nautical ceiving 28 cents the ration, that price was known There is nothing stiff about them, and the to be less than the actual cost. The officers might, forms prescribed for their management, are estab-at that period, have drawn their rations and sold lished upon a knowledge that their observance is them to a profit; and, after the price was reduced necessary to the good of the service. to 20 cents, although an apparent change in the market seemed to favor the reduction, yet it was fully ascertained that the price, on an average, was considerably higher; and, upon this ground, it was fixed at 25 cents, as a fair average price. The officers now consider, and, indeed, have always considered, their undrawn rations as a part of their pay, and have made their calculations accordingly. Among the papers which every body has been pleased with from the navy commissioners, is the following addressed to the secretary of the navy in answer to certain questions propounded to him. NAVY COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE, January 10, 1821. SIR-In reply to the queries propounded by the honorable chairman of the naval committee, of the house of representatives, in his letter to you, of the 5th instant, which you were pleased to refer to this board, the commissioners of the navy have now the honor to afford such information as they possess. Query 1st. "Cannot the navy ration be probably procured at less than 25 cents, and at how much less?" The navy ration can probably be procured for less than 25 cents. By the contracts lately made, the first cost will not exceed 16 cents. At this time provisions are known to be unusually low, and owing to this circumstance, and the competition produced among the bidders for public contracts, by advertising for all articles required, the ration is procured at a price less, considerably, than at any period since the establishment of our navy. That the price of undrawn rations should be fixed, is not only essential, as respects the officer, but equally, if not more essential, as respects the public accounts. Were the price to be regulated by the fluctuations of the market, the officer would be kept in a state of constant uncertainty as to the regulation of his own expenses, and great embarrassments would arise in the settlement of his accounts at the treasury-hence, it has been found expedient to give to these rations a fixed value; and the commissioners presume that 25 cents is not more than a fair average price for them. The officers, in providing their own tables, are unavoidably subject to pay the market prices demanded for the articles they require. These markets may be as various as the ports they may proceed to in various parts of the world. It is, also, the custom of the service to provide, whenever a It should, however, be observed, that the com- vessel goes into port, fresh meat for the crew; and, ponent parts of the ration are all of a perishable on such occasions, we are subject to pay the marnature, and that, on board of our ships, they are ket prices demanded for such fresh provisions. unavoidably exposed to the vicissitudes of every This custom could not be dispensed with; the health climate-hence, with every care that can be taken of the crews requires its observance; and it is obof them, they are, in a greater or less degree, lia-viously proper to consider this contingency also ble to damage before they can be used. The ex-in the estimate. pense of transportation should, also, be added to the original cost. These considerations render it expedient to prepare the estimates, as to the cost of the rations, so as to make a liberal allowance for the damages to which they are liable. Hence, although the first cost of the ration will not exceed 16 cents, it is calculated at 25 cents. The estimates for 1821, contemplate a provision of 1,526,430 rations, deliverable in kind, for actual consumption, and 376,497 rations to be paid for in money to the officers entitled to them by law. The former is one ration per day for every person in the service. The latter are undrawn rations, which the officers are entitled to, but which, not drawing in kind, (not being provided for them) are paid for in money. With respect to the rations coming under the former description, it may be observed, that if they should not, including all the losses which may be sustained, cost the price named in the estimate, no more than their actual cost will be drawn from the treasury. The balance will remain undrawn and unapplied, and subject to such disposition as the legislature may please to decide. With respect to the rations which are not drawn by, or provided for, the officers, but to which they are by law, entitled, and for which they are paid in money, the price has, since the year 1814, been fixed at 25 cents; thirteen years' previous experience having satisfied the government that 20 cents was less than a fair average price.' Query 2d. Is it not a departmental regulation which authorizes the officers to commute all their rations but one into money?" As this is not a regulation directed by any law of congress, the commissioners presume that it was made by the department, and custom has established its convenience. The officers are generally in a situation which would render it inconvenient to them to draw all their rations; if they were to draw them, they could not consume them; and, if they do not draw them, it would not seem to comport with the principles of justice to deprive them of their value. They furnish their own tables, from time to time, as they go into port, but must draw one ration,because one ration is actually proIvided in kind for them--and there is a necessity that it should be provided, in order to guard effec tually against events which might arise from the improvidence of any individual in the navy.' The principle of permitting officers to commute their rations into money is universally observed in every service with which the commissioners áre acquainted-it enables the officers, from time to time, to lay in their stores. If this custom were prohibited, and the whole number of rations to which the officers are by law entitled were to be provided and delivered in kind to them, the capacity of the ships to receive provisions and stores would be proportionably diminished-under the present regulation the stores of the officers occupy but an inconsiderable space-change it, and you necessarily have to lessen the quantity which would otherwise be provided for the crew. Prior to 1801, the price of the ration was 28 cents; in 1801, it was reduced to 20, and, as before stated, it was, in 1814, raised to 25, and has never şince been changed. This price may be more than the present cost of the ration, but next year! fit. By a change these inconveniences would arise, without being attended with any conceivable benc Query 3d. "How many commissioned officers of each grade will be necessarily wanting for actual service during 1821, if the present naval force should be retained in service?" The commissioners presume that it was intended to comprehend in this query not only the commis. sion but the warrant officers; and that the object is to ascertain the number of each indispensably necessary for the ships and vessels intended to be kept in service during the year 1821; and thus construing and understanding the object of the query, they have to state, that the ships and vessels intended to be kept in service during the year 1821 could not well be navigated and commanded with less than the following number of officers, viz. 5 Captains of the navy, 7 Masters commandants, 9 Lieutenants commanding, 57 Lieutenants, 11 Surgeons, 23 Surgeons' mates, 18 Pursers, 4 Chaplains, 1 Schoolmaster, 20 Sailing masters, 142 Midshipmen, 11 Boatswains, 11 Gunners, There are, it appears, at this time, 46 pursers on the roll. The vessels in service, in ordinary, and the navy yards and shore stations, are estimated to require 39, leaving, apparently, seven supernumaries. The rules of the service require, that pursers should settle their accounts at the end of every cruise. It would be very expensive to keep a ship waiting till her purser could settle his accounts, which frequently requires two or three months other pursers must be ready to take the place of those who are compelled to leave their ships for this purpose. Hence, for the good of the service, it appears necessary to have a few supernumerary pursers. Query 5th. "Are there no officers or others, such as superintendents, store-keepers, &c. who might be dispensed with at the several navy yards and stations, without injury to the public service?" So far as respects the navy yards, the commişsioners of the navy have to state, that ever since the establishment of their office, their attention has been particularly turned to this subject; and they have, from time to time, curtailed the number of persons employed; and they have reduced it and the expense as low as, in their opinion, the public service will admit. They can, with confidence, state, that they know of no officer that could be. dispensed with in any of our navy yards, without dispensing with that principle of checks, and sysThis statement, it will be perceived, does not in- tem of accountability, essential to economy. Prior clude any of the ships or vessels in ordinary, or to the establishment of the board, no property acany of the navy yards or stations-neither does it in-count was kept-at present there is the same acclude any supernumerary officers of any description countability for property as for money, and the or provide for any casualty. It comprehends only office of storekeeper is essential to this accountathe actual number required to be on board the ships bility. 11 Carpenters, and 11 Sailmakers. in service. In officering our vessels in time of peace, it has, heretofore, been the practice to attach to them an extra number of junior officers, in order to afford them such opportunities of improvement in their profession, as would fit them for command in time of war: and the commissioners beg leave, sir, to observe, that they would regret extremely if this practice were to be discontinued-as it would be depriving our young officers of the only fit school open to them. In no possible way can a young man be fitted for the command of a vessel of war, but by serving a regular apprenticeship on board of one; and the cheapest possible way of training and qualifying them for the service is, assuredly, to place an extra number on borrd of such vessels as are kept in service. It is not by preparing ships alone that we can hope to render our navy efficient. The experience of our officers must, to render it so, keep pace with the gradual increase. To commit the command of our ships to persons ignorant of any of the departments or duties of command, would be to jeopardize the reputation of the navy. Inexperienced unskilful bravery cannot hold the combat against veteran skill with any hope of suc cess. In the merchant service seamanship may, it is true, be learnt-but that only; and that constitutes but a very small part of the education of a navy of ficer-whose mind should be early habituated to the duties of obedience and command-of discipline and subordination-to the study of mathematics, gunnery, and the whole theory and practice of naval tatics; and it is on board of ships of war only that such habits and acquirements can be attained. Query 4th. "Are there not more pursers than the public service requires?" Query 6th. "Could any new organization be made in the marine corps, which would promote economy, without injuring its efficiency?" This appears to the commissioners properly a military question; and as they have never turned their attention to subjects of that nature, they do not feel themselves competent to form a satisfactory opinion upon it. Query 7th. "What is the estimated average cost per annum, of vessels of the following classes, respectively, viz: 12, 16, 20, 32, 36, 44, 74-1st, on cruize; 2d, in ordinary; 3d; when dismantled?" The commissioners having had reference to a series of estimates made at various periods during the existence of the navy, have to state, that the following appears to be about the average estimated cost per annum on cruise, viz: A 12 to 14 20 to 24 36 4.4 do. do. $20,595 37,440 45,700 74,900 97,500 112,000 180,360 74 gun ship The annual expense of vessels in ordinary, exclusively of any repairs to which they may be subject, may be estimated as follows, viz: $2,477 00 2,664 50 3,279 00 4,205 75 4,604 25 5,002 75 6,432 50 With respect to the annual cost of vessels dismantled, the commissioners have to observe, that they know of no difference in the expense of vessels in that state and when placed in ordinary, as dismantling is a necessary preliminary step to their being placed in ordinary. I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, your most obedient servant, Honorable Smith Thompson, JOHN RODGERS. Secretary of the navy. Slave Trade. armed vessels employed in watching the African coast, while they co-operated alike in the cause of humanity, would afford to each other mutual succour. There is a single consideration, however, added to the preceding view of this subject, which appears to your committee, of itself, conclusive of the tendency of the views of the memorialists to further the operation of the act of the 3d of March, 1819. That act not only revokes the authority an tecedently given to the several states and territorial governments, to dispose as they pleased, of those Africans who might be liberated by the tribu nals of the United States, but authorizes and reReport of the committee to whom was referred, quires the president to restore them to their native at the commencement of the late session of con- country. The unavoidable consequence of this gress, so much of the president's message as re- just and humane provision is, to require some lates to the slave trade, accompanied with a bill preparation to be made for their temporary sucto incorporate the American Society for coloniz-cour on being relanded on the African shore. ing the free people of color. And no preparation can prove so congenial to The committee on the slave trade, to whom was its own object, or so economical, as regards the referred the memorial of the president and board government charged with this charitable duty, of managers of the American Society for colonizing as that which would be found in a colony of the the free people of color of the United States, have, free people of color of the United States. Susaccording to order, had under consideration the tained by the recommendation of numerous soseveral subjects therein embraced, and report:cieties in every part of the United States, and the That the American Society was institued in the city of Washington, on the 28th of December, 1816, for the benevolent purpose of affording to the free people of color of the United States the means of establishing one or more independent colonies on the western coast of Africa. After ascertaining, by a mission to that continent, and other preliminary enquiries, that their object is practicable, the so- The memorialists do not ask the government to ciety request the congress of the United States a assume the jurisdiction of the territory, or to be. charter of incorporation, and such other legislative come in any degree whatever, responsible for the aid as their enterprise may be thought to merit and future safety or tranquility of the contemplated coll require. lony. They have prudently thought that its exterThe memorialists anticipate from its success,nal peace and security would be most effectually consequences the most beneficial to the free peo-guarded by an appeal, in its behalf, to the philoso ple of color themselves; to the several states in phy of the civilized world; and to that sentiment which they at present reside, and to that continent of retributive justice, with which all christendom is which is to be the seat of their future establishment. at present animated towards a much injured contiPassing by the foundation of these anticipations, nent. which will be seen in the annual reports of the so- Of the constitutional power of the general go. ciety, and their former memorials, the attention of vernment to grant the limited aid contemplated by the committee has been particularly drawn to the the accompanying bills and resolutions, your comconnection, which the memorialists have traced be-mittee presume there can exist no shadow of doubt; tween their purpose, and the policy of the recent act of congress, for the more effectual abolition of the African slave trade. approving voice of the legislative assemblies of se veral states, without enquiring into any other tendency of the object of the memorialits, your committee do not hesitate to pronounce it deserving of the countenance and support of the general government. The extent to which these shall be carried is a question not so easily determined. and they leave it to a period of greater national prosperity to determine how far the authority of congress, the resources of the national government, and the welfare and happiness of the United States, will warrant, or require its extension. Your committee are solemnly enjoined, by the peculiar object of their trust, and invited by the suggestions of the memorialists, to enquire into the defects of the existing laws against the African slave trade. So long as it is in the power of the United States to provide additional restraints upon this odious traffic, they cannot be withheld, consistently with the justice and honor of the nation. Experience has demonstrated that this detesta. ble traffic can be no where so successfully assailed as on the coast upon which it originates. Not only does the collection and embarkation of its unnatural cargoes consume more time than their subsequent distribution and sale in the market for which they are destined, but the African coast, frequented by the slave ships, is indented with so few commodious or accessible harbors, that, notwithstanding its great extent, it could be guarded by the vigilance of a few active cruizers. If to these be Congress have heretofore marked, with decided added colonies of civilized blacks, planted in com- reprobation, the authors and abettors of this iniquimanding situations along that coast, no slave ship tous commerce, in every form which it assumes, could possibly escape detection; and thus the se- from the interception of its unrighteous purpose curity, as well as the enhanced profit which now in America, through all the subsequent stages of cherish this illicit trade, would be effectually coun- its progress, to its final consummation; the out. teracted. Such colonies, by diffusing a taste for ward voyage, the cruel seizure, and forcible ablegitimate commerce among the native tribes of duction of the unfortunate African from his native that fruitful continent, would gradually destroy home, and the fraudulent transfer of the property them, also, the only incentive of a traffic which thus acquired. It may, however, be questioned, if has hitherto rendered all African labour insecure, a proper discrimination of their relative guilt bas and spread desolation over one of the most beau- entered into the measures of punishment annexed tiful regions of the globe. The colonies, and the [to these criminal acts. Your committee cannot perceive wherein the offence of kidnapping an unoffending inhabitant | of a foreign country; of chaining him down for a series of days, weeks, and months, amidst the dying and the dead, to the pestilential hold of a slave ship: of consigning him, if he chance to live out the voyage, to perpetual slavery, in a remote and unknown land, differs in malignity from piracy, or why a milder punishment should follow the one, than the other crime. On the other hand, the purchase of the unfortunate African, his enlargement from the floating dungeon which wafts him to the foreign market, however criminal in itself, and yet more in its ten dency to encourage this abominable traffic, yields in atrocity to the violent seizure of his person, his sudden and unprepared separation from his family, his kindred, his friends, and his country, followed by all the horrors of the middle passage. Are there not united in this offence, all that is most iniquitous in theft, most daring in robbery, and cruel in murder? Its consequences to the victim, if he survives, to the country which receives him; and to that from which he is torn, are alike disastrous. If the internal wars of Africa and their desolating effect, may be imputed to the slave trade, and that the greater part of them must, cannot now be questioned, this crime, considered in its remote as well as its proximate consequences, is the very darkest in the whole catalogue of human iniquities; and its authors should be considered as hostes humani generis. In proposing to the house of representatives, to make such part of this offence as occurs upon the ocean, piracy, your committee are animated, not by desire of manifesting to the world the horror with which it is viewed by the American people; but by the confident expectation of promoting by this example, its more certain punishment by all nations, and its absolute and final extinction. Public Schools in New-York. Report of the superintendant of common schools to the legislature of New York. Albany, February 21, 1821. Sir-I have the honor transmit to you the en closed report, prepared in obedience to the act for the support of common schools. I have the honor to be, respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, GIDEON HAWLEY. To the hon. the legislature of the state of New York. Hon. Peter Sharpe, speaker of assembly. The superintendant of common schools, respect. fully REPORTS-That from the returns of common schools, which have been made to him for the preceding year, it appears, that in 545 towns, from which such returns have been received, there are 6,332 school districts, organized according to law, and that in 5,489 of those districts (from which only, have been taught, during the whole or some part of particular district returns have been received), there the year, 304,359 children; and that the number of children between the ages of 5 and 15 years, residing in the same districts, is 317,633-There are 27 towns, from which no returns have been re ceived. It will be seen, from the abstract, that the amount of public money, returned as having been received in the different districts, is only $146,418 08, while the real amount received, through the whole state, must have been $160,000, exclusive of local funds arising from lands set apart for the use of schools in different parts of the state; and exclusive also of the extra sums which many towns have directed to be raised by tax, beyond what they were required by law to raise. The difference between the real and apparent amount of money received, is owing partly to the imperfection of the returns, but chiefly to their not being complete for the May it not be believed, that when the whole civilized world shall have denounced the slave trade as piracy, it will become as unfrequent as any other species of that offence against the law of nations? Is it unreasonable to suppose, that nego-whole state. ciation will, with greater facility, introduce into The proportion which, from the present returns, that law such a provision as is here proposed, when the number of children taught, bears to the numit shall have been already incorporated in the seber between the ages of 5 and 15 years, is much parate code of each state? The maritime powers of the christian world have, at length, concurred in pronouncing sentence of condemnation against the traffic. The United States, having led the way in forming this decree, owe it to themselves, not to follow the rest of man kind in promoting its vigorous execution. If it should be objected, that the legislation of congress would be partial, and its benefit, for a time at least, local, it may be replied, that the constitutional power of the government has already been exercised in defining the crime of piracy, in accordance with similar analogies, to that which the committee have sought to trace between this general offence against the peace of nations, and the slave trade. In many of the foreign treaties, as well as in the laws of the United States, examples are to be found of piracies, which are not cognizable, as such, by the tribunals of all nations. Such is the unavoidable consequence of any exercise of the authority of congress, to define and punish this crime. The definition and the punishment can bind the United States alone. greater than at any former period.-In about one half of the towns in the state, the number taught exceeds the number between the ages of 5 and 15 years; and taking the whole state together, the number taught is more than nineteen twentieths of the number between these ages. The average length of time for which schools have been kept, for the last year, has also increased in about the same ratio as the number of children taught. There is now, therefore, reason to believe that the number of children in the state who do not attend any school, and who are not otherwise in the way of receiving a common education, is very small. The public bounty is sufficient to defray the expense of most schools for about three months in the year; and where that is expended in different parts of the year, so as not to defray the whole expense of the school for any particular part, it is understood that in most districts, poor children have been permitted to attend the district school free of expense, under that provision in the school act which empowers districts to exonerate such children from the payment of teachers' wages. The readiness with which such permission has been generally granted, wherever it has been deserved, 1 is very creditable to the public spirit and liberality of the inhabitants of school districts, and it is considered proper, on this occasion, to bring the fact to the notice of the legislature. From these circumstances, in connection with the friendly disposition, every where manifested in the cause of education, it is considered warrantable to infer, that of the rising generation in this state, very few individuals will arrive to maturity, without the enjoyment and protection of a common education. The prospect of such a result ought to inspire additional confidence in the establishment of common schools by law, and it will, it is hoped, secure to them the same patronage and support, which they have hitherto received from the legislature. gaged at from ten to twenty dollars per monthi and a mistress for five or six months in the summer at from four to five dollars per month. A person who is not qualified to teach geograghy, grammar, and geometry, and not well recommended for his morals, &c. is forbid, under heavy penalties by law, to take charge of a school. Thus the legislature becomes a guardian and protector of the morals of its constituents. The expense of supporting these schools, does not, on an average, exceed three dollars per scholar a year. The poor it costs nothing, and the rich have no reason to complain; for the education of the children of the poor and his own cost him five times less than it does in the middle or southern states. His gifts to the poor, unlike other gifts, is accompanied with the satisfaction A comparative view of the state of common that it cannot be abused. But economy is one of schools for different years since they became es-the least benefits arising from their system of edutablished by law, is herewith transmitted. It af- cation. We behold 3,600 schools in operation at fords the most satisfactory evidence of a great in-the same time, and as many young masters or misses crease in the number of common schools, since their first establishment in 1812, and a corresponding improvement in their condition, beyond what is believed to have been the expectations of the most sanguine friends, to the establishment of schools by law. Respectfully submitted, GIDEON HAWLEY. A comparative view of the returns of common schools, 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 since the year 1816, inclusive. of 5 and 15 years. Num. of children residing 355 3713 2873 64,634 88 170,386 198,440 6 to Superintendant of common schools. Massachusetts' Schools. Massachusetts is divided into 450 townships; each six miles square, and subdivided into seven or eight school districts making the number of school disNo scholar is tricts in the whole state 3,600. obliged to walk further than three fourths of a mile from the extremity to the centre of the district, where the school is situated. qualified to superintend them! The child, as soon as it has begun to walk and speak, has something to do; acquires a habit of order, obedience, and above all of attention, which influences his conduct through life. The children of the poor, instead of spending their time in idleness, becoming contemptible by their inability to be useful, or being avoided for their crimes, become industrious, frequently respectable, and always useful members of society. Education in one respect putting the inhabitants on terms of equality; poverty, which, because always accompanied by ignorance, is an insuperable barrier in other countries, is there no obstacle to employments both honorable and lucrative. Genius and talents wherever found, are encouraged and rewarded. Many, very many, young men have burst from the obscurity of their situations, and shone as bright luminaries in the literary and political horizon. We are not surprised to see the laborer or mechanic, after the labor of the day, amuse or instruct himself with a newspaper or a book, and farmers spending their long winter evening with their families around the chearful fireside, gleaning the contents of their own or the town li brary. We see circulating libraries established in all the towns.-Many are not only conversant in politics, but in divinity, and natural and moral philosophy. Who can enumerate all the blessings flowing from a proper system of education? blessings I am sure Massachusetts would not exchange for all the rich productions of the south and east, and all the precious mines of Peru.-Mass. paper. Foreign Articles. "HOLY ALLIANCE," &c. An arrival at Philadelphia gives us one day later Each township is by law obliged to raise money for schools, not less than three hundred dollars, if news from Europe-"Accounts received in LonI mistake not, and as much more as it deems pro- don establish the fact of the Austrians having crossper: the sums raised, usually vary from 5 to 1500 ed the Po. The advanced guard was expected at dollars, each township, according to the ability of Rome from the 15th to the 20th of Feb. A letter from its inhabitants, each of whom pays his proportion, Laybach states that the British minister delivered not as a contribution or subscription, but as a tax a note of so important a character, that it produced regularly assessed, as other taxes are for other an extraordinary assembling of the congress, and purposes. Two methods of distributing the mo- despatches were instantly forwarded by prince Metney among the people are used; 1st, the quan- ternich to Treviso, Milan and Rome. Things retity received by each is regulated by its num- main in Europe in rather an unsettled state, and ber of scholars; 2d, the district receives no more probably will till they get generally convulsed and than what was raised in it. Generally for three go through another siege of war, and probably reor four months in the winter, a master is en-volution. These events are looked for as certain. The king of England has declined interfering on either side." Defective returns. |